Kwon Gil-ju Appointed CEO of Hana Card: "Let's Expand Customer Base and Focus on Data Business"

First Official Schedule: On-site Visit for Communication Management

Kwon Gil-ju, President of Hana Card

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Kwon Gil-ju, CEO of Hana Card, started his on-site management by visiting the call center immediately after his inauguration to communicate with employees. This move is interpreted as an effort to stabilize the internal atmosphere following the sudden resignation of the previous CEO. As his first directive upon taking office, CEO Kwon ordered an expansion of the customer base and a focus on data and payment business.

Hana Card announced on the 15th that it appointed Kwon Gil-ju, CEO of Dure Signing, as the new CEO of Hana Card through an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and a board meeting held the previous day. CEO Kwon skipped the formal inauguration ceremony and carried out his first official schedule by visiting the Customer Care Center (call center) immediately after taking office.

At the event, CEO Kwon said, "The greatest value that determines the future of Hana Card is the customer, and I ask the Customer Care Center employees, who are at the closest point to the customers, to respond sincerely as if they were my own family." He encouraged, "We will spare no effort to provide various support so that these employees do not face any inconvenience in performing their duties."

Following this, CEO Kwon visited the head office and met with employees, saying, "As the new CEO, I will accept employees' work difficulties with an open mind and try to improve them," and urged, "Let us create a momentum where employees and Hana Card grow together."

In his greeting to all employees in lieu of an inauguration ceremony, CEO Kwon also delivered messages of encouragement and requests. He said, "Thanks to the efforts of our employees, Hana Card achieved the best performance ever last year," but added, "Despite expected difficulties this year, such as the recalculation of merchant fees, we must expand the customer base, which is the foundation of the company's growth, as well as internal capabilities." He further emphasized, "We must also focus on strategies related to data and payment businesses."

To this end, CEO Kwon stressed returning to the basics of being 'customer-centered.' He said, "It is most important to make all business decisions from the customer's perspective and for our employees themselves to create a workplace that is good to work at."

CEO Kwon is recognized as a financial expert with 35 years of diverse experience across the financial sector since joining Korea Exchange Bank in 1985. He is known to have a high understanding of digital transformation in finance, having served as head of the ICT group at Hana SK Card and Hana Bank, deputy head of the Innovation & ICT group at Hana Bank, and vice president of ICO at Hana Financial Group. In particular, having served as head of the management support division at Hana SK Card, the predecessor of Hana Card, CEO Kwon is highly regarded as the right person to continuously grow Hana Card in the future due to his deep understanding of the card industry.